A blog about the history, current state, and the future of the electric guitar and tube-based amplifier combo and how this de rigueur musical instrument that matured during the Rock N' Roll-era continues to both evolve and refuses to die.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Even though amplified acoustic guitars inevitably ends up
sounding like an electric guitar, could 5-inch diameter loudspeakers provide a
solution?

By: Ringo Bones

Let’s face it, any attempt to amplify the acoustic guitar
sound output since the days of Lee De Forrest’s Audion vacuum tube inevitably –
then and now – end up making the acoustic guitar sound like an electric guitar.
Fortunately, the R&D team at Trace Elliot had discovered a novel solution
to this perennial problem back in the late 1980s.

More than an interesting design concept, it seems that the
R&D team at Trace Elliot had discovered that five-inch speakers are ideally
suited to the acoustic guitar’s frequency range since using them as speakers in
acoustic guitar amplifiers tend to lessen the resulting amplified acoustic
guitar sound’s tendency to sound like an electric guitar. The mono version of
Trace Elliot’s acoustic guitar amplifier – the TA 100 – has four 5-inch speakers
and the stereo version – the TA 200S – has eight 5-inch speakers. The
amplifier’s controls (control panels) are located at the center of the front
grille area of both models. Both Trace Elliot acoustic guitar amplifiers look
like a “modern” circa 1990 version of those classic Stromberg Carlson radios
from the 1930s.

There’s a “Dynamic Correction” scheme that optimizes the
speaker movement for reproduction / reproducing acoustic guitar frequencies. An
Alesis reverb chip comes built in the stereo model of the Trace Elliot acoustic
guitar amplifier while you get the mono model with or without the chip. Not
quite a “budget product” it is perceived to be given that stand alone /
discrete Alesis digital reverb units at the time retailed for around 3,000 US
dollars each.

Was there already a perfect version of “Dynamic Correction”?
Models that are domestic friendly enough were bought in droves by audiophiles
during the late 1980s by with mixed results. Dynamic Correction via motional
feedback used in Velodyne’s high-gain servo subwoofers origins date back to the
1970s where Graham Bank of hi-fi loudspeaker manufacturer Celestron had
documented his own “trials and tribulations” on making motional feedback
speakers more consumer and domestic friendly.

Motional feedback in a nutshell senses loudspeaker cone
movement and applies correction in a similar fashion to negative feedback.
During its early days of development, a lack of a position reference resulted
in an enormous crack from the loudspeaker cone as it attempted to leave the
loudspeaker chassis during musical peaks. Each time it did this, the connecting
braids carrying the signal from the loudspeaker frame to the voice coil broke,
even though they were long enough to cope with the movement. It appeared that they
fractured under the enormous acceleration involved. Once perfected though, it
became the working principle behind Velodyne’s F-Series subwoofers during the
1990s.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Even though he never managed to learn how to play the
guitar, does Leo Fender’s skills are rather reserved for making great guitars
and associated gear?

By: Ringo Bones

Even though the idea of Leo Fender never even bothered to
check out a Mel Bay chord-book in order to allow him to better play the iconic
inventions and innovations he produced over the decades, the very idea can be
disconcerting given that the Fender Stratocaster electric guitar – probably his
best innovations – is played by almost all of the world’s greatest guitarists
of all time. Sadly, he passed away back in March 21, 1991 and still I wonder if
he ever knew that what he created 50 years ago will stand the test of time and
will be imprinted on the minds of most of the Earth’s population whenever they
are asked to describe what a great electric guitar looks like.

Not only the Fender Stratocaster - which celebrated its 60th Birthday back in 2014, but also the Fender Champ and
scores of other vacuum tube equipped electric guitar amplifiers has since
became the bread and butter of electric guitar based music making all over the
planet. Even though a certain touring guitarist will play Marshall stacks in a
“stadium rock” setting – when it comes to recording studio work or strumming
for inspirations for the next big hit at home, he or she inevitably choose one
of Leo Fender’s vacuum tube electric guitar amplifiers designed and first
released during the 1950s.